Dyess Against Drunk Driving program could save lives

For Dyess airmen, the Dyess Against Drunk Driving program could be a lifesaver.

In fact, 200 airmen may already have been saved from death, injury or jail by DADD, the brainchild of Airman Corie Schuler and others.

"Growing up, who did you call when you needed help? You called dad," Schuler said.

The DADD program, which offers airmen a free, no-questions-asked ride home by a sober volunteer, isn't the first of its kind. Its predecessor, called the Wingman Phone, offered a similar service to inebriated troops.

But the Wingman Phone had some problems.

One, Schuler said, was that a "select group of individuals" ran the program instead of it being a base-wide initiative. Also, rumor spread that — a false rumor, but a rumor nonetheless, Schuler said — that airmen might be reprimanded for using the service.

"The prior program wasn't as good as it could have been," he said. "I identified some problems and some stigmas associated with it. There were some negative things that weren't true about the program."

So in February, Schuler and a handful of other airmen set out to give the potentially lifesaving program a face-lift.

"'How can we tailor it to Dyess' needs?'" Schuler said he asked himself. "'How can we make this appealing to folks?'"

He studied similar programs at other bases worldwide and sought out a logo design.

"It was never heavily publicized," he said. "Any kind of successful program, anything good, needs a marketing program. Very little marketing was done for it."

New logo designed, DADD debuted on Memorial Day weekend, a holiday characterized by recreational drinking.

Here's how it works: Volunteers from all over the base sign up to give rides to people who need them from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays.

Airmen call the line — sorry, it won't be published for civilian use — and request to be picked up from a friend's house, a bar, wherever.

The driver is the same gender as the callers, Schuler said.

"We never want to put a female in a car with a bunch of drunk guys. Or vice versa," he said. "We really want to protect our volunteers."

Schuler and his wife opted to be lab rats for DADD. "It went almost entirely according to plan," he said, with a few kinks to work out.

So far, everything seems to be running smoothly for DADD. By the end of 2012, 200 "saves" have been counted, which is the number of people volunteers have given safe rides home.

"It's been a lot of hard work," Schuler said. "I have learned a lot. I couldn't have done it without the help of the chairmen and mentors that helped us put together the program."

The program has garnered the attention of at least one higher-up at Dyess.

"The word has officially and unofficially gotten out that is a beneficial program," said Lt. Col. Brian Golden. "This program has received a lot more support from lower ranks and higher ranks."